Exploratory trip to visit Indigenous Villages in Veracruz

After Debbi returning from spending 3 great fun filled weeks in Salt Lake City with Charity, and helping her move into a new apartment in August, I had 2 days at home to unpack, wash clothes and repack for an Exploratory trip in southern Veracruz Mexico.

We were 7 people in all (us; Jerry from Monterrey; Abby (who we met in Costa Rica Lang. School) and her parents (pastors from Xalapa) and a pastor from Minatitlan, Veracruz for most of the trip, and then a young Mexican missionary joied us 1 day (8 people in a 7 passenger Ford Explorer and all our luggage on top!). It was pretty cramped, but so much fun and beautiful country!

We went to a couple villages high in the mountains, where they have their own dialect, so we had to have a local translate from Spanish to their languages...Popoluca & Nahuatl. While there we had an opportunity to share Christ with some local men who called us over to the cantina (bar), as they had been watching us and were very interested in who we were (esp. Roger)! We had an opportunity to use the village We were above the clouds high in the mountains with a beautiful view during the day, but the drive back down the mountain at night was very dangerous in the rain, but God kept us safe.

The next day we went to an afro-mexican village (Yanga) and prayed for a new church being planted and ate pig on a spit, yum! and prayed for the missionaries that are starting that work, and had an opportunity to share Christ with a young lady there.
We then drove south to a village called Sayula where the women were wearing their traditional dresses and they shared with Debbi how they only recently started wearing tops (no wonder, its soooo hot there!). There were lots of laughs as we talked about the possibiblities of when we return that they are going to dress her up in one of their traditional outfits (but she agreed only as long as they have a blouse to wear:). We felt a real connection with that group of believers and are pretty sure we will be returning to that village next year. They also fed us "carne de chango", which is monkey meat.

The next few days we ended up in a couple of jungle villages by the Gulf of Mexico (Soteapan & Pajapan) that are only a couple miles apart, but speak 2 different dialects. We had a great opportunity to share Christ with a drunken man who came out of the cantina to talk to us and then took us to his home, and while there his mother and wife and children all asked Christ into their hearts and he also cleared up from being drunk and asked the Lord to forgive him and then took time to speak to his family and mother to ask forgiveness. This was all so orchestrated from God, its hard to even believe it ourselves! They have opened their home for weekly bible studies and discipleship for the village to begin. The last village was deep in the jungle and we had an opportunity to speak in a little church at night where they also speak a different dialect. There Debbi got tons of bites on her legs (50 on one leg alone!), and is still scratching!

We ended the trip in Minatitlan, Vc speaking in the church of the pastor that accompanied us on this outreach. They treated us so well, feeding us lots of great foods from the south, as most of the people in this area are from the Oaxaca region. It is very hot there, as its much more humid than Monterrey, so we were melting most of the time! On Sunday when we showed up at the church to speak, all of the ladies were wearing their traditional dresses, and the pastor's wife took Debbi in a small room and gave her a beautiful traditional dress to wear that day, and to keep!!

We left on Monday morning and dropped Abby off in Cardel, where she took a bus back home (her parents had left us on Friday night as they had other engagements). We then headed to Cerro Azul and spent a couple days with some of our old staff (Dan & new wife Wendy Spurling; and David & Leah Teran and their kids! We enjoyed the Sept. 16 Festival with them and reminiscing of old times in Monterrey over the past years together!

Enjoy the photos and I'll be putting more up on Facebook soon! Also, please pray for the people in these villages, that they would all hear the message of Christ in their own language someday!